July 1977

[BROWNJB1]

I recently made a posting on what was the greatest music in American Top 40's history. In my opinion I was it was a tie between 1976 & 1977. Well, 1977 was an incredible year for music, and in July 1977, that month had some great songs in the Top 10. For example, for the week of July 9, 1977, the Top 6 songs in the Hot 100 were all No. 1 hits, and the Top 5 of the charts that week were songs that hit No. 1 that month:

5. I Just Want To Be Your Everything--Andy Gibb (7-30)

4. Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)--Bill Conti (7-2)

3. Looks Like We Made It--Barry Manilow (7-23)

2. Da Doo Ron Ron--Shaun Cassidy (7-16)

1. Undercover Angel--Alan O'Day (7-9)

And also for a 3 weeks period from July 16-30, 1977, three of the top teen idol for that period had songs in the Top 5 on the Hot 100. Besides Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb, Peter Frampton had a song in the Top 5 on the charts during that period with his hit, "I'm In You". I'm sure that the people at AT40 were really enjoying themselves, and the fans of the show were really enjoyed listening to the show back in July 1977.

[Scott Lakefield]

Definitely some great songs there! And for the people in the other thread that were into the year 1978, they'll get a big kick out of this weekend's (3/12-13) edition of AT10, which features that year in the spotlight. See the "This Week on AT10/AT20" page for more details.

[at40petebattistini]

Inspired by this post and one looking for "lost" recordings, I would like to add that the month of July 1977 saw quite a few great songs get airplay and then they were gone. A few examples include Dean Friedman's Ariel, Meri Wilson's Telephone Man, Rod Stewart's The Killing of Georgie, CJ & Co.'s Devil's Gun, and Ram Jam's Black Betty. I hear Ram Jam on the radio periodically but none of the others.

And after skimming through a number of Hot 100 charts, it's easy to pick 3-5 great, lost songs from just about every month of AT40's existence! ;D

[kentd]

My favorite AT 40's are 1975-1977. I wondered if it was my age and "discovering" music. I was age 12 in 1975.
In 1978, at age 14 I started at a country radio station. There's something about working in radio that you don't listen to music much anymore. You are around it too much.
The 1978-1980 years are years I engineered AT 40 on the Top 40 station. One vivid memory is AT 40 playing "Everlasting Love", instead of "Our Love Don't Throw It All Away" on a January 1979 show.
Wonder how much our age plays a part in what remember and like?

[Indycolt]

1977 was a great year for music! The first half of the year I lived in Germany,and the second half I was back in the States. Some great "Lost" songs that I remember from the first 5 months include Starbuck's #38 single "Everybody Be Dancin'",Deniece Williams' #25 "Free",Silvetti's #39 "Spring Rain",Rufus & Chaka Khan's #30 "At Midnight" and Ambrosia's #39 remake "Magical Mystery Tour."

I agree with Pete's assessment too: Virtually every month had 3-5 great,"lost" hits! It makes me appreciate all the classic shows I have!

[Adrian]

Here's some interesting chart trivia of pairs of songs that peaked in July 1977:

Places:
Luckenbach, Texas/Waylon Jennings
Margaritaville/Jimmy Buffet

Angels:
Undercover Angel/Alan O'Day
Angel In Your Arms/Hot

Height:
Gonna Fly Now/Bill onti
Jet Airliner/Steve Miller Band

And to top it off, the top tune of 1977 on AT40 came from July, 1977. Some great memories.

[TomBest]

That was the Summer between High School and College, plus I had just moved from Connecticut to North Carolina. The playlists in CT, because the stations were NYC stations, were kind of small, so moving to NC opened up a bunch of new songs. Plus the stations in NC were a bit ahead of CT with one exception. In the Spring WPIX played "Ariel" and it charted on AT40, but it wasn't played in NC yet. Then it finally hit. It was basically a regional NY area hit that didn't get picked up nationally for a couple weeks.

That might explain it's odd chart run where it was off AT40 for two weeks.

[Indycolt]

Tom,
"Ariel" is one of those great "lost" 45's of the 70's. Here's a quick look at that records chart action: 86-72-59-47-42-37-32-29-27-27-26-47-41-37-33-33-32-56-63-73-76-97. And even though it only peaked at #27,AT40 still had it ranked in the first half of their Top 100 for 1977.

Steve

[pasha913]

"The bombs bursting in ARiel" Probably my favorite lost 45